Top 10 Reasons Teachers Should Supplement Their Incomes

Hola everybody!

The school year is done and millions of teachers all over the U.S. have begun the greatest part of their year: summer vacation.  I, unfortunately, have another couple of weeks (until June 22) before I can declare my career as an Assistant Principal over.  However, this year I will get a couple more weeks off on the tail end of the summer, not reporting back to work until early August, versus the end of July, as I had been the past ten years.  While many teachers take to traveling with their families, there are many others who will remain local, filling their "staycation" with activities galore in an effort to keep themselves and their children from getting cabin fever.  I will be one deferring on a much needed vacation this year, yet again, and hit the local YMCA with my wife and children instead as it is about time for some swimming lessons.

Rehani and Ajani yesterday.  They need to learn how to swim this summer!

I'll also be gettin' my side-hustling on in anticipation of getting less each month (teacher pay) come my end of July paycheck.  This isn't something new, however.  I've been side-hustling now for over ten years during the summer months, while on an administrator's salary.  I've you've been a long time follower of my blog, you know that I devote all of my supplemental income to investing and now, building my business.  Why have I side-hustled even though there was no economic necessity to do so?  To fulfill my goal of early retirement.

Another reason why teachers should always be supplementing their income includes to accelerate their school loan payments.  Yesterday I read this very depressing article about a 58-year-old teacher who has $65K of college loans: "...What Can I Do?"  The suggestion in the article was damn near useless!  "In Julie's case, Oliver would recommend that she talk with a student debt counselor,..."  Really?  Wow.  Julie made a huge mistake.  Several actually.  And she's on the verge of shooting herself in the foot again and all that was recommended was more counseling?

I wrote my eBook: Common Core Money: Financial Literacy for Educators & Other Professionals (Free when you subscribe to this blog, btw) 

for the sole purpose of keeping teachers & other professionals from making financial mistakes, and to give them tailored financial instruction.  Julie's situation tells me that there are so many educators out there that still need my help.  Before I make the case for adding supplemental income streams as a career to-do list component for teachers, let me first help Julie out.  Julie, if you're reading, the brutally honest truth thing to do is...

Sell your home.  Your home is not an asset.  Not while you're still making mortgage payments that are keeping you from paying off your college loan debt.  If people suggest you refinance, they don't know how banking works.  Even if you have plenty of equity, you will not meet the income to debt ratio for a new home loan, seeing that you have $65K in loan debt!  With more lenders coming after graduates with unpaid school loan debt, legally I mean, it is best you liquidate your holdings, pay your obligations, and start over.  You need a car as well.  Well, I would suggest that once you sell your home, you rent really close to the school where you teach, walk or ride the bus, and NOT buy a new car for at least several years while you get your financial bearings.  If you must have a vehicle, don't finance, purchase an inexpensive used car.  There is no way out of this hole you've created, without cheating or doing something morally reprehensible.  If I were in this situation, this is what I would do, knowing that there are a myriad number of ways to make supplemental money and buy another home in the future should I want to.  With that, I now turn to the top 10 reasons teachers should supplement their incomes:

1.  You barely make enough money to meet your monthly needs, even with a budget.

2.  You want to accelerate your college loan debt payments.

3.  You make plenty, but you're not sure if your pension will last you through retirement.

4.  You don't trust your state.  Can the private equity company your state has hired to manage everyone's stashed retirement contributions keep the money growing?  (Ask California's new teachers how they feel right about now, having their contributions increased to bridge the shortfall of retiring teachers.)

5.  You want to increase the amount you contribute to a retirement vehicle like a 403b or a Roth IRA, but can't for lack of funds.

6.  You don't want to allocate any of your salary to pay for your child's college savings or education.

7.  You see machines taking over the future of teaching and want to save for Judgement Day.

8.  You want to take the summer vacation of a lifetime without the guilt.

9.  You want to quickly save 20% for a down payment on a home while rates are low.

10.  You want to take additional graduate coursework or a degree program (Masters/Doctorate) and want to be able to stroke the tuition payments without needing loans.

These top ten reasons are straight out of my latest eBook: The Ultimate Teacher's Guide to Supplemental Income which is in its final stages of production.  It will be available for Kindle apps and readers on Amazon for only $4.99 sometime by the end of the week, search: C. Osvaldo Gomez.  I will be posting to let everyone know once the eBook is live.  Several teachers have read an advance copy and have had nothing but great things to say about this resource.  It's timely as well, with the start of summer vacation.

  





The reality is, its not just teachers who should be supplementing their day job income.  The technological and worldwide monetary policy changes have made the wealthy, wealthier, and have undermined everyone else.  That is why we have massive wealth inequality in this country.  For people who want to try to live on one income, good luck.  It will not be easy.

Thanks for reading as always.  If you liked this blog post, share it with your friends!